The Midnight Ghost Train – Cold Was The Ground

1. Along The Chasm
2. Gladstone
3. BC Trucker
4. Arvonia
5. One Last Shelter
6. The Canfield
7. Straight To The North
8. No. 227
9. The Little Sparrow
10. Twin Souls
11. Mantis
“The band that kicked off last years’ edition of Desert fest in Berlin laid waste to the small hall. The sun was still out when they started playing and there weren’t more than 50 people in attendance, but that didn’t stop the band from giving it their all. There they were, three burly Americans, playing hard, head banging, and enjoying themselves to the fullest. The guitars battled the drums for sonic dominance while the bassist effortlessly pounded his way through what would be the shortest hour of the weekend, shaking the foundation of the Astra Kultuurhaus. When the show came to a close, the crowd dispersed leaving the band alone to break down the stage. That was when I stumbled over to the singer and told him that he just won me over as a fan and that I wanted to know who the hell they were. He looked down at me, out of breath, with his bloodshot eyes and sweat-soaked t-shirt and said something in his gravely voice that I couldn’t make out before continuing on his way. Only later, after I got hold of the day’s running order, did I figure he’d said, “Thanks, we are “. No, sir. Thank you.”
“It’s been less than a year since that show and in that time I have had to make do with their, “Buffalo”, their second full length while trying to manage youthful feelings of excitement during the lead up to their newest outing. Luckily, live up to all expectations with their new album, “”, by delivering a cavalcade of distorted guitars, gravely vocals, and a colossal rhythm section. All the elements that had me flattened during that sunny day in April last year have been mixed in magical proportions and cut to tape for “”. This album is 39 minutes of superb song writing and catches the band sounding fierce and alive in both sound and delivery.”
” are cooking with a live chemistry on “”. The album opens with an instrumental warm up which feeds into “Gladstone”, the album’s first single. The force in this song is surprisingly relentless, pushing its way forward as it does with a simple little guitar lick. Moss’s voice is a little unconventional in this brand of stoner rock, so he holds back a little, giving the listener some space to get used to his demonic delivery. Things change real quickly when the album’s second single, “BC Trucker” comes a’ knocking, with Moss belting out his words the best he can. “I’m giving you self regret”, he sings over and over until he breaks free in the chorus with the sinister “be all my sins!!” What he has in store for the subject of the song’s lyrics is left to the listener’s imagination, but one thing is for sure, these guys aren’t here to be friendly.”
“The album continues as though it was trucking down an empty highway, cruising at a comfortable speed, bouncing along with the unpaved asphalt. “One Last Shelter”, another instrumental break, turns into “The Canfield”, a song that moves back and forth like osmosis, shifting between a moonshiner’s toe-tapper and a hard rock nod of approval. Elements of Clutch spring up in the cuts like “Twin Souls” and “No. 227”, but most remarkably on the track “Straight To The North”. Here, paint from a pallet of Clutch’s self titled and latest offering, which makes for a song that is familiar, fresh, and just begging for a live setting.”
“But don’t write this album off as a Clutch rip off because it’s far from that. Though no fault of their own, is from Kansas, a state that lies west of the blues, north of the outlaws, and just too far east of the sandy breeding grounds that birthed Kyuss, but which has no musical identity of its own. So it’s no wonder tha